I have a question about streaming video. If I had something like HBO Go which, provides on demand access to some HBO programs, can I "stream it" and then watch it later when I don't have internet access or do I have to watch it as it arrives on the laptop? The specific case I am thinking of is streaming content at the airport to watch on the plane.

If it's streaming, you have to watch it right then. If it's downloadable, you can watch it later. Some places offer both, but usually you can only (legally) download content you've actually purchased - not just paid a subscription for.

I have a question about streaming video. If I had something like HBO Go which, provides on demand access to some HBO programs, can I "stream it" and then watch it later when I don't have internet access or do I have to watch it as it arrives on the laptop? The specific case I am thinking of is streaming content at the airport to watch on the plane.

I'm pretty sure you can't watch streamed content later. You'd have to actually download it to do that; streaming doesn't save the program onto your computer.

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I have a question about streaming video. If I had something like HBO Go which, provides on demand access to some HBO programs, can I "stream it" and then watch it later when I don't have internet access or do I have to watch it as it arrives on the laptop? The specific case I am thinking of is streaming content at the airport to watch on the plane.

You can, but you would need to buy some software like GetFLV to do it. I would be weary of using any free software that claims to do it. That may install malware on your computer.

In your experience/opinion, what would you consider an normal average of days per year for someone to call in sick to work? Examples: once every month, two months, 5, 10 days a year? What do you consider excessive?

It varies but I would consider it excessive if a person uses up all their sick leave and is unable to "build up" a bank of sick leave (if that's how your company works--if you can't build up a bank, I think it makes sense to use all of your leave every year).

At my work, sick leave rolls over, year after year and it is simply prudent to try to build that bank up. I had cancer two years ago and had over 800 hours of sick leave in my bank. After six months of chemo and day off for feeling weak and sick, I still have several hundred hours left.

When I was teaching, we got 6 days sick leave per year and could accumulate up to 10 years worth. (60 days)But beyond that if you didn't use them you couldn't roll them into the next year.

We also got 2 "personal business days" per year but those did not accumulate at all. You did have to specifically request them in advance and they were usually used for attendance at funerals or other very specific events, not for a day at the amusement park or going shopping.

The "how many sick days should a person use" is sort of a personal pet peeve. I am a person who gets sick fairly easily (I've had migraines my whole life - diagnosed at 18 months old - and I have a few stomach conditions as well). I've often worked for people who never, ever, EVER get sick, never go to any sort of doctor's appointment (even general check-ups), and show open scorn and disdain for those who do. I can't tell you how often I was questioned on the necessity of a medical appointment (yeah, I know I could go to HR over that, but it wasn't worth it at the time) or told that I should come in and "work through it". At that job, I technically had 10 days of paid sick time, but I was not allowed to take it between October and March (our busiest times) - so when I fell incredibly ill in February, too bad. I had to come in anyway.

So, Dazi, I'm not sure what your point was in asking the question - whether you're on the sick-person side of things or the not-sick-person side of things, but my answer is "as much as the employer allows". If you get 10 days, you should be able to take 10 days without questioning from coworkers, supervisors, or anyone else.

The "how many sick days should a person use" is sort of a personal pet peeve. I am a person who gets sick fairly easily (I've had migraines my whole life - diagnosed at 18 months old - and I have a few stomach conditions as well). I've often worked for people who never, ever, EVER get sick, never go to any sort of doctor's appointment (even general check-ups), and show open scorn and disdain for those who do. I can't tell you how often I was questioned on the necessity of a medical appointment (yeah, I know I could go to HR over that, but it wasn't worth it at the time) or told that I should come in and "work through it". At that job, I technically had 10 days of paid sick time, but I was not allowed to take it between October and March (our busiest times) - so when I fell incredibly ill in February, too bad. I had to come in anyway.

So, Dazi, I'm not sure what your point was in asking the question - whether you're on the sick-person side of things or the not-sick-person side of things, but my answer is "as much as the employer allows". If you get 10 days, you should be able to take 10 days without questioning from coworkers, supervisors, or anyone else.

We were asked on our work reviews to evaluate our own attendance. It was one of those "Your attendance in the past year was _____." with the scale going from unsatisfactory to excellent. I just wanted others opinions on the matter.

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Meditate. Live purely. Quiet the mind. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine. ---Gautama Buddah

What does one do to find new music when one doesn't listen to the radio or whatch TV?

I used to be part of a music e-zine when I was younger, plus music forums and stuff like that so it was easy to find out about new bands, but now I feel like I never listen to anything new.

Are there sites where you can reference what you already like and they give you similar artists?I have a suscription to a service where for a couple dollars every months you have access to streamable music so listening is not a problem, finding something to listen is..

I'm a big fan of prettymuchamazing.com They focus on rap, rock, alternative, and pop genres. They also keep a rolling playlist of their favorite songs for each year.

If you are a blues fan I highly recommend The Roadhouse Podcast. Tony is an amazing host and the tagline is "the finest blues you never heard" He's made it his goal to introduce listeners to all sorts of blues, from acoustic, to rock, to jump, to west coast and beyond.

The "how many sick days should a person use" is sort of a personal pet peeve. I am a person who gets sick fairly easily (I've had migraines my whole life - diagnosed at 18 months old - and I have a few stomach conditions as well). I've often worked for people who never, ever, EVER get sick, never go to any sort of doctor's appointment (even general check-ups), and show open scorn and disdain for those who do. I can't tell you how often I was questioned on the necessity of a medical appointment (yeah, I know I could go to HR over that, but it wasn't worth it at the time) or told that I should come in and "work through it". At that job, I technically had 10 days of paid sick time, but I was not allowed to take it between October and March (our busiest times) - so when I fell incredibly ill in February, too bad. I had to come in anyway.

So, Dazi, I'm not sure what your point was in asking the question - whether you're on the sick-person side of things or the not-sick-person side of things, but my answer is "as much as the employer allows". If you get 10 days, you should be able to take 10 days without questioning from coworkers, supervisors, or anyone else.

We were asked on our work reviews to evaluate our own attendance. It was one of those "Your attendance in the past year was _____." with the scale going from unsatisfactory to excellent. I just wanted others opinions on the matter.

Wow, that's a strange question to have on a work review... especially evaluating yourself. Who's going to say that their own attendance was unsatisfactory?!

What does one do to find new music when one doesn't listen to the radio or whatch TV?

I used to be part of a music e-zine when I was younger, plus music forums and stuff like that so it was easy to find out about new bands, but now I feel like I never listen to anything new.

Are there sites where you can reference what you already like and they give you similar artists?I have a suscription to a service where for a couple dollars every months you have access to streamable music so listening is not a problem, finding something to listen is..

Pandora and IHeartRadio are two free services I can think of. There is a bit of a learning curve for the programs though. You create a station (by artist or song), then they will play similar songs or play songs that others who enjoyed similar music have liked on their stations. Then you can click that yes Yes I like this new song or no I don't...it may take some time for the program to learn your preferences. I still can't convince it that I do not like The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

So, Dazi, I'm not sure what your point was in asking the question - whether you're on the sick-person side of things or the not-sick-person side of things, but my answer is "as much as the employer allows". If you get 10 days, you should be able to take 10 days without questioning from coworkers, supervisors, or anyone else.

We were asked on our work reviews to evaluate our own attendance. It was one of those "Your attendance in the past year was _____." with the scale going from unsatisfactory to excellent. I just wanted others opinions on the matter.

Hmm, I would interpret that question a bit differently than purely how much sick leave did you use. It seems to be asking whether someone was attending as appropriate vs skiving/skipping work for no good reason. If two people used the max sick leave available in a year, but one was truly sick and/or contagious and the other routinely called out because they felt like it, the first person's attendance should be "good" and the second's would be "poor." At least, that's how I would apply the ratings.

I know it probably doesnt work that way, so i think it's a poor choice of review question. Might as well ask to rate your own ethical behavior (like my company does and FYI, by policy you can't get any higher than a 3 out of 5).

What does one do to find new music when one doesn't listen to the radio or whatch TV?

I used to be part of a music e-zine when I was younger, plus music forums and stuff like that so it was easy to find out about new bands, but now I feel like I never listen to anything new.

Are there sites where you can reference what you already like and they give you similar artists?I have a suscription to a service where for a couple dollars every months you have access to streamable music so listening is not a problem, finding something to listen is..

Pandora and IHeartRadio are two free services I can think of. There is a bit of a learning curve for the programs though. You create a station (by artist or song), then they will play similar songs or play songs that others who enjoyed similar music have liked on their stations. Then you can click that yes Yes I like this new song or no I don't...it may take some time for the program to learn your preferences. I still can't convince it that I do not like The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Have you tried Slacker? It let's you completely block artists.

Awesome. Thanks, I'll definitely look into that.

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Meditate. Live purely. Quiet the mind. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine. ---Gautama Buddah

The "how many sick days should a person use" is sort of a personal pet peeve. I am a person who gets sick fairly easily (I've had migraines my whole life - diagnosed at 18 months old - and I have a few stomach conditions as well). I've often worked for people who never, ever, EVER get sick, never go to any sort of doctor's appointment (even general check-ups), and show open scorn and disdain for those who do. I can't tell you how often I was questioned on the necessity of a medical appointment (yeah, I know I could go to HR over that, but it wasn't worth it at the time) or told that I should come in and "work through it".

So when you're blind with pain and/or vomiting copiously, you should just "work through it"? Hope you don't work with the public, or have a job working with machinery.

Sounds like my MIL. She "just took an aspirin and went on about her day" when she had a headache. I was just "spoiled and trying to get sympathy" when I went down with a migraine. She should have been there the first and only time I snarled at her son to "Go away and leave me alone to sleep it off!" He was worried, and kept coming in every 20 minutes or so, just as I got to sleep, "to see if you feel better." No meds in those days, other than aspirin or narcotics, and military doctors are very reluctant to hand out narcotics, even T-3. Yet more "Just tough it out" types.

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So, Dazi, I'm not sure what your point was in asking the question - whether you're on the sick-person side of things or the not-sick-person side of things, but my answer is "as much as the employer allows". If you get 10 days, you should be able to take 10 days without questioning from coworkers, supervisors, or anyone else.

We were asked on our work reviews to evaluate our own attendance. It was one of those "Your attendance in the past year was _____." with the scale going from unsatisfactory to excellent. I just wanted others opinions on the matter.

Hmm, I would interpret that question a bit differently than purely how much sick leave did you use. It seems to be asking whether someone was attending as appropriate vs skiving/skipping work for no good reason. If two people used the max sick leave available in a year, but one was truly sick and/or contagious and the other routinely called out because they felt like it, the first person's attendance should be "good" and the second's would be "poor." At least, that's how I would apply the ratings.

I know it probably doesnt work that way, so i think it's a poor choice of review question. Might as well ask to rate your own ethical behavior (like my company does and FYI, by policy you can't get any higher than a 3 out of 5).

What? That makes no sense. Why even have 4 or 5 then? Are they saying that even the most scrupulously honest and ethical of employees is just meeting the average expectation or do they not believe that anyone is very ethical?

Reminds me of an early psychological evaluation test I read about decades ago. It said that they had control questions in there to assess the respondents' honesty. One of the control questions was "have you ever snuck into the movies?" based on the idea that EVERYONE had done that so anyone who said they hadn't was lying and scores should be adjusted accordingly. Um, no, I never did that actually and I'm sure I'm not all that unique.

Reminds me of an early psychological evaluation test I read about decades ago. It said that they had control questions in there to assess the respondents' honesty. One of the control questions was "have you ever snuck into the movies?" based on the idea that EVERYONE had done that so anyone who said they hadn't was lying and scores should be adjusted accordingly. Um, no, I never did that actually and I'm sure I'm not all that unique.

I don't know about that specific test, but this kind of question is pretty common in psychology questionnaires. It's pretty well confirmed that people think the best of themselves, and data gathered by self-survey (like questionnaires) are going to be skewed more positively than data collected through direct observation - particularly for questions where there's a "right" and a "wrong" answer. (Things like "how many sexual partners have you had?" or "have you ever stolen from your employer?") Some people over-correct ("Yes I stole a paperclip once!") and some under-report ("Well I never got caught, so . . ."). To combat this, self-report questionnaires on touchy subjects usually include a question or two that *everyone* would either say "yes" or "no" to - the idea being that if you say "no, I've never lied to anyone in my entire life," you're not giving an accurate self-assessment and thus your answers are not useful data.

(I agree that "I've never snuck into a movie theater" is a poor choice for this kind of question, though! Usually it has to do with more general things - have you ever lied, have you ever driven faster than the speed limit, have you ever intentionally 'forgotten' to do something, etc.)